Get past all the hype about PHP and dig into the real power of this language. This book explores the most useful features of PHP and how they can speed up the web development process, and explains why the most commonly used PHP elements are often misused or misapplied. You'll learn which parts add strength to object-oriented programming, and how to use certain features to integrate your application with databases.

Written by a longtime member of the PHP community, PHP: The Good Parts is ideal for new PHP programmers, as well as web developers switching from other languages.

* Become familiar with PHP's basic syntax, variables, and datatypes
* Learn how to integrate the language with web pages
* Understand how to use strings, arrays, and PHP's built-in functions
* Discover the advantages of using PHP as an object-oriented language
* Explore how PHP interacts with databases, such as SQLite and MySQL
* Learn input- and output-handling best practices to prevent security breaches

Serving as a complete introduction to PHP 5.3, this book walks you through all the major concepts of PHP in a way that's easy to follow, with plenty of code snippets illustrating each concept to aid learning. You'll discover how to install and configure PHP 5.3, how to get started with simple programs, and the basic building blocks of PHP such as variables, operators, expressions, arrays, and objects. Coverage working with files, XML, and MySQL; building Web applications with PHP; exploring the PEAR library; handling e-mail; and creating Web graphics. From the Back Cover A solid introduction to writing powerful web applications using PHP 5.3 As one of the most popular open-source web-programming languages in use today, PHP is an ideal server-side scripting language that connects HTML-based web pages to a backend database for dynamic content. It allows you to create anything from a simple form-to-email script to a web forum application, a blogging platform, or a content management system. This guide introduces the PHP language and shows how to write powerful web applications using PHP. Looks at the ways that PHP programs interact with web servers and other technologies such as HTML Teaches you how to build robust web applications and change the flow of your scripts with decisions and loops Examines ways to create and use strings, arrays, objects, functions, and files in your scripts Shares tips for creating interactive web forms in PHP, as well as capturing user input Unveils methods for preserving an application's state between page views Offers advice on how to work with MySQLR databases using PHP Includes best practices for using PEAR to speed up your application development Presents techniques for manipulating XML from within your PHP scripts Walks you through the creation and manipulation of web graphics using PHP

Create a dynamic, fully featured, online store with the most powerful open source e-commerce software

• Step-by-step guide to building your own online store
• Focuses on the key features of Magento that you must know to get your store up and running
• Customize the store's appearance to make it uniquely yours
• Clearly illustrated with screenshots and a working example

Просто и доступно изложены основы РНР - популярного языка написания скриптов для Web-страниц. Выполняя несложные примеры, читатель сможет освоить азы программирования на РНР, создать динамическую страницу, счетчик посещения сайта, систему голосования, адресную книгу, Интернет-магазин. Описаны типичные ошибки использования сценариев, а также пути их исправления. Книга содержит фрагменты кода, который можно применять при создании собственных проектов. Предназначена прежде всего для начинающих, но может быть полезна и опытным программистам, использующим РНР.